1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

Ill

THE FLOWING BOWL that without these one could never rightly under stand the beautiful passage of Horace : Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero Pulsanda tellus ; nunc Saliaribus Ornare pulvinar Deorum Tempus erat dapibus sodales, nor this other ;—

Absumet haeres Caecuba dignior Servata centum clavibus : ct mero Tinget pavimentum superbo Pontificum potiore coenis."

Modern popes- have always had a reputation for abstemiousness ; but this same Mr. Stephens who must have been somewhat of a slander- monger— in his same apology for Herodotus (what about the apology for Stephens ?) mentions a popular little song of the day, which com menced :— Le Pape qui est Rome Beit du vin comrae un autre homme Et du I'Hypocras aussi. ' And I can recall a cheery, albeit most likely libellous, song, which some of us used to sing at school, beginning :— ° The Pope he leads a joyous life. It appears to be a fact that many former popes drank hard j and if Petrarch is to be believed the long stay made by the court of Rome at Avignon was on account of the excellence ofthe French wines; and that it was merely for that